NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Friday unanimously issued a show cause notice to senior advocate Rishi Malhotra, questioning why his senior designation should not be revoked over allegations of serious misconduct.
Malhotra was designated as a senior advocate by the Supreme Court on August 14 last year, for his expertise, years of experience and legal acumen. He was a lawyer for many convicts seeking premature release in the Bilkis Bano gangrape case.
The decision of initiation of revoking his senior designation, a first of its kind, comes in the wake of the serious allegations of misconduct. He was accused of suppressing material facts in many cases of premature release of prisoners aside from making misleading statements despite several warnings from the top court.
The apex court took this decision on the administrative side unanimously. It was deliberated upon by a full court, convened by Chief Justice Sanjiv Khanna and comprising all apex court judges.
In its February 20 verdict, a bench of Justice Abhay S Oka and Augustine George Masih flagged Malhotra's misconduct in a case accusing him of not disclosing that the top court had barred the convict's remission for 30 years. Similarly, Malhotra was found to have misled the apex court on other occasions too.
The top court said, "We will take a decision after getting a reply from Malhotra about his alleged misconduct."
"We make it clear that we are not recording any final finding against Rishi Malhotra on the question whether his designation can be withdrawn. We leave it to the Chief Justice of India to take a call on this issue," the SC had said.